Cognitive Development - Baillargeon Theory Flashcards
What is the main difference between Piaget’s and Baillargeon’s views on object permanence?
Piaget argued that object permanence develops gradually during the sensorimotor stage (around 8–12 months) and is measured by observable behaviors like searching, whereas Baillargeon’s research shows that infants as young as 3.5–5 months exhibit an understanding of object permanence, as revealed by longer looking times in violation of expectation tasks.
What is the violation of expectation (VOE) paradigm and how it is used in infant cognition research?
The VOE paradigm presents infants with both expected and unexpected events, measuring their looking times. Longer looking times at unexpected events suggest that infants are surprised when events violate their innate expectations about physical laws.
How did Baillargeon et al. Design their study on infant object permanence?
Infants were shown a series of events where an object behaved either consistently with or in violation of physical laws. The study used looking time as the dependent variable to assess whether infants noticed when an event contradicted expected physical behavior.
What were the key findings regarding looking times in Baillargeon’s VOE study?
The study found that infants looked longer at unexpected events (an average of 33 seconds) compared to expected events (around 25 seconds), indicating that infants detected a violation of their expectations about object continuity.
What is the infant physical reasoning system as proposed by Baillargeon?
The PRS is an innate or early-developing system that equips infants with core knowledge about the physical world, including basic rules such as object permanence and how objects should behave.
What strengths does the VOE method offer over traditional methods like those used by Piaget?
The VOE method minimizes the impact of motor development by relying solely on observation of looking times rather than active searching, making it a more sensitive and accurate measure of infant cognitive abilities.
What are some limitations of the VOE method in assessing infant cognition?
Limitations include the possibility that longer looking times may reflect factors like perceptual novelty or stimulus salience rather than a true cognitive understanding of physical principles.
How do Baillargeon’s findings contribute to the debate on nature versus nurture in cognitive development?
Her research supports the idea that some cognitive abilities—such as the understanding of object permanence and basic physical laws—are innate or pre-wired, rather than solely acquired through sensorimotor experience.
How have replication studies and variations in the VOE paradigm reinforced Baillargeon’s conclusions?
Subsequent studies using similar paradigms (e.g., occlusion, containment, support tasks) have consistently found that infants look longer at impossible events, reinforcing the notion of early physical reasoning.
What methodological considerations should be taken into account when interpreting the results of VOE studies?
Researchers should consider factors such as perceptual novelty, stimulus salience, and the limitations of drawing cognitive inferences solely from observational measures like looking time.
Why is the difference in looking times between expected and unexpected events significant in understanding infant cognition?
The difference suggests that infants have established expectations about how the physical world should operate; deviations from these expectations elicit a surprise response, which serves as evidence for early cognitive processing.
What is object permanence?
The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible; traditionally believed to develop around 8–12 months, but shown by Baillargeon to emerge as early as 3.5–5 months.
What is violation of expectation paradigm?
A research method that presents infants with expected and unexpected events; longer looking times at unexpected events indicate that infants notice when physical laws are violated.
What is looking time?
The duration that an infant gazes at an event; used as an indirect measure of surprise or cognitive processing in VOE studies.
What is infant physical reasoning system?
A proposed innate system that gives infants a basic understanding of physical principles—such as object permanence and object behavior—indicating that some cognitive abilities are hard-wired.
What is core knowledge theory?\
The idea that infants are born with an inherent, basic understanding of the world, which serves as a foundation for later learning rather than being entirely acquired through experience.
What is the sensorymotor stage?
The first stage in Piaget’s theory of development, where infants learn about their world through their senses and motor activities.
What is an Occlusion paradigm?
An experimental setup in which an object is partially or completely hidden by another object, used to assess infants’ understanding of object permanence.
What is containment?
A concept in which an object is placed inside a container and is expected to remain there, helping researchers assess infants’ understanding of physical consistency.
